Upgrades to busy community buildings, assisting youth performing art groups, mulling a new skate park and battling crime were all discussed by Milpitas City Council last week as leaders tried to prioritize resources while maintaining a balanced budget into the next fiscal year.

The city council reviewed the city’s proposed $71.2-million 2014-15 fiscal year general fund budget during an April 1 study session. The new budget, which covers July 1 to June 30, 2015, projects a 6.6-percent increase in sales, transient occupancy and property tax revenues — representing about a $2.6 million increase.

Milpitas City Manager Tom Williams said with the expectation of new revenues, the city should hire an assistant city manager as well as fill nine other key positions, including the return of an economic development manager, totaling about $1 million in salary expenses.

In addition to city staff recommendations for new and added-back staff, council members as well as residents had their own ideas about programs and services as well as capital improvement projects that should receive funding priority.

Among them, Councilwoman Carmen Montano reiterated her request made in November to launch a feasibility study for a skate park.

Williams said a skate park feasibility study — expected to cost the city between $60,000 and $80,000 to conduct through an outside consultant — had fallen to the back burner.

“We have gone so far as to identify land area,” Williams added. “The ideal location, because we have the land, would either be on the McCandless park property or on the land that could fit the skate park at the sports center. That’s as far as we’ve gone. We haven’t hired a consultant to do a survey.”

Montano insisted the process should continue.

In response, Williams said the council could prioritize funding for a feasibility study in the upcoming budget.

Councilman Armando Gomez later asked Williams if he wanted the council to reaffirm its position to do a feasibility study on the skate park. Gomez noted at a council meeting last November “there were a lot of people (who) had the expectations that we were already moving down this road and that this feasibility study would happen and we had talked about community outreach … to get this ball rolling.”

“I think we’re clear on the direction,” Williams replied.

But the city manager added two things impeded progress of the skate park. Those issues involved ongoing litigation between City of Milpitas, Santa Clara County and State of California over the city’s contested redevelopment agency properties — totaling tens of millions of dollars — that were transferred to the city’s control in 2011.

“They’re holding hostage our McCandless property … and the county wants us to sell our open space at the sports center,” Williams said.

Additionally, he said county staff asked the city to rezone ball fields at the sports center to “sell that property so that they can get the revenue.”

“So we’re locked in that litigation,” Williams said.

Gomez said he did not want the county to “hold our properties hostage” and added that he wanted to at least study the feasibility of a skate park.

More money for arts?

During the meeting, Montano also said she wanted to see more of the city’s transient occupancy tax (hotel tax) revenues — projected to see a 3-percent rise over the prior year — be put toward greater library funding and potentially extend library hours. According to city staff, the city’s hotel tax rate is 10 percent, but only 8 percent is available for general fund operating use. The 2 percent remainder, according to staff, can be directed to library, performance art or capital improvement projects.

Williams said library funding, which is saved in a 2-percent library fund, would be kept intact but not necessarily used to increase library hours on weekends and mornings.

“As you know the library doesn’t open as early as it used to,” Williams said, adding he had not heard from the community about this issue. “I have not seen or heard any complaints about library hours.”

Still, Williams said the library could also be a funding priority at the council’s discretion.

Saying the city’s library advisory commission may be reviewing this topic, Mayor Jose Esteves said city staff should be ready for a recommendation from that panel.

Emma Karlen, the city’s finance director, said Santa Clara County Library District — the entity that operates Milpitas Public Library at 160 N. Main St. — is currently receiving an additional $1 million due to the statewide dissolution of redevelopment tax distribution.

“If they want to do a programing change I don’t know if it’s necessary for the city to fund it,” Karlen said. “We can talk to the library and say ‘hey, you’ve got extra funding distribution, why can’t you use some of the funding there, that you previously didn’t have to fund the programs.'”

“That’s a good point,” Montano replied.

She added perhaps there could be a meeting between the city and county library staff regarding funding needs.

In a related comment on use of hotel tax monies, Vice Mayor Althea Polanski said she’d like to see extra monies go toward performing arts including the children’s theater program that produces plays at the Milpitas Community Center. An outside company manages the productions, after the city disbanded Rainbow Theatre more than a year ago.

Later, Polanski asked staff whether funding for upgrading the sound system at the city’s community center had been programmed in next year’s budget. She added upgrading the community center’s technology was an important investment.

“The community center is utilized by so many,” Polanski said. “By residents and probably non-residents … and different groups that utilize it because I think that’s important but I don’t know what it would cost to do that.”

In response, Williams said that too could be discussed and prioritized by the council.

Additionally, Polanski suggested the city assist the children’s theater — perhaps up to $40,000 — to help pay for royalty fees to produce and perform copyrighted plays and musicals.

“This could also be from the TOT (transient occupancy tax),” Polanski said

However, Gomez believed royalty fees were only a “few thousand dollars per play.”

Carmen Valdez, the city’s human resources/recreation services director, confirmed royalty fees could be $3,000 or $4,000 depending on the type of production.

He added Milpitas police could start getting out real-time information to the public about in-progress crime and crime-fighting efforts via Facebook and Twitter.

“And do you have funding for those?” Esteves asked.

Pangelinan replied his department would rely on current staff to manage an expanded social media program.

Saying the city attorney was reviewing the program for potential liability, Pangelinan added that he believed use of social media would be beneficial for law enforcement here.

“We’re not unique in that sense — police departments around the country are doing it with great success,” Pangelinan said.

Esteves then asserted the city needed other ways to deter crime including through the use of surveillance cameras in specific parts of town.

“It’s interesting you bring up the camera issue because … one of the things we intend to implement with social media and with the expansion of Neighborhood Watch, is organizing our camera infrastructure,” Pangelinan said. “Not necessarily funding for camera infrastructure but there’s so many residents in town in the wake of increasing crime … they’ve implemented their own cameras systems around their homes. Many, many residents do that.”

The police chief added if the city was able to organize data where there are existing cameras “on certain streets and certain properties, that would be extremely useful.”

Esteves said drugs like marijuana are becoming “more rampant” in the community and local schools. Several high-profile marijuana growing busts have happened in Milpitas in the last six months.

Pangelian replied Milpitas Police Department has taken the step to join a county-led taskforce, which will go after drug offenders and high-risk probationers and parolees.

“So we’re part of that countywide taskforce and that, in effect, becomes a force multiplier,” Pangelinan said.

During public comment, resident Robert Marini questioned why a feasibility study for a skate park could cost as much as $80,000.

“It seems like you could do a study for a lot cheaper than that to figure out where to put a skate park,” Marini said.

Feeling city arts programs did not need urgent funding, Marini asserted the Barbara Lee Senior Center needed two new computers for patrons to use.

“That’s going to cost us less than $700 and you’re thinking of spending $80,000 for a survey just for a skate park,” Marini told the council. “It seems like your priorities are way out of base here.”

Soon after, Vice Mayor Polanski said the skate park, at least for her, was not a high priority but that having new computers at the senior center was important.

“That to me is something we should look into if there is such a need, so I would like us to look into that,” Polanski said. “I think that’s a legitimate question.”

The council is scheduled to review the city’s five-year capital improvement program budget at its meeting next Tuesday, April 15. A formal city council budget hearing and possible adoption of the 2014-15 final budget is scheduled at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 13 at Milpitas City Hall, 455 E. Calaveras Blvd.

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